This seems to be taking an awful long time...

[Danny Boy]

)

Ok, I'm on day 16 of my fishless cycle. I started using the 'add all at start' method of adding ammonia, bringing the tank up to 4ppm. I noted how much ammonia this took, and was prepared to add that much everyday from the on.

Further discussion on the board suggested this was the wrong thing to do...the huge amount of ammonia (higher than test kit read, over 8ppm) I was putting in sent the water cloudy.

So, after three days of adding 25 drops of ammonia, I stopped adding any...and am waiting for the ammonia level to drop back to 0. This seems to be taking a long time, the level is currently at somewhere between 2 and 4ppm.

Has anyone got any more advice for me? Something I should be doing?

 

[Jo and Gra]

try a partial water change to dilute the ammonia level?

 

[tttnjfttt]

Check and see what your nitrite and nitrate readings are. My bet is you either have off the chart nitrites or the nitrates are getting high.

It might also be time to consider to adding more ammonia to make sure the bacteria that get rid of ammonia have something to feed off of while the guys that deal with nitrite are developing.

 

[ddaddy]

Check and see what your nitrite and nitrate readings are. My bet is you either have off the chart nitrites or the nitrates are getting high.

It might also be time to consider to adding more ammonia to make sure the bacteria that get rid of ammonia have something to feed off of while the guys that deal with nitrite are developing.

[snapback]843551[/snapback]​

Sorry to hijack the thread, but how long do you think the bacteria would stay alive without any ammonia to feed of?

In Danny Boy's case, if he has a reading of 2-4ppm of ammonia, surely the bacteria has enough to feed off, or it would be 0.

 

[tttnjfttt]

From my understanding, you want the bacteria to be able to handle around 2.0 ppm ammonia over a 24 hour period. I am saying this because the directions are to add ammonia to 4 ppm, then wait for nitrites. Once you get nitrites, you add half the ammount daily, or 2 ppm.

In a fishless cycle, there are two phases. The first is building up the bacteria to deal wiht the ammonia, but produces nitrIte. The second phase is to get rid of the nitrIte, and turn it into nitrAte. NitrIte is also toxic to fish, so while building up those bacteria, you need to keep the ones that remove the ammonia alive.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Not to confuse anyone but I did a fishless cycle and it took 7 days. I used about 1/4 teaspoon of cichlid pellets every other day. I also used a filter cartridge from an established tank and was adding bio zyme. Maybe adding some bacteria from an established tank will help speed up the process.

 

[platyfreek]

yes yes add bacteria from an established tank.

 

[Danny Boy]

Check and see what your nitrite and nitrate readings are.  My bet is you either have off the chart nitrites or the nitrates are getting high.

It might also be time to consider to adding more ammonia to make sure the bacteria that get rid of ammonia have something to feed off of while the guys that deal with nitrite are developing.

[snapback]843551[/snapback]​

Sorry to hijack the thread, but how long do you think the bacteria would stay alive without any ammonia to feed of?

In Danny Boy's case, if he has a reading of 2-4ppm of ammonia, surely the bacteria has enough to feed off, or it would be 0.

[snapback]844574[/snapback]​

I'm confused by the whole thing...yes the ammonia level seems to be coming down...but my NitrIte and NitrAte are both low...0 in fact.

 

[glolite]

Hi there, have you had any nitrites at all yet during the 16 days? If not then I'd guess that you need to add ammonia daily. What size tank is it?

 

[Danny Boy]

Hi glolite...

It's a 10 gallon tank, I've just done a 50% water change to try and dilute the ammonia levels. They are now down to 1ppm. I think I'll wait for this to drop back to 0 before adding any more.

 

[rdd1952]

If your ammonia has dropped from 8 ppm to 2 to 4 ppm and you don't have any nitrites, there is definitely a problem. Are you adding any type chemicals such as Ammo Lock or Amquel? Those prevent a tank from cycling.

 

[abstract]

there's no carbon in the filter right? maybe take some water to get tested at your lfs - possible the test is incorrect/outdated/etc

 

[Danny Boy]

All I've been adding...is pure ammonia.

)

 

[rdd1952]

If you're only adding pure ammonia and it has dropped from 8 ppm to 2 to 4 ppm without water changes and still don't have any nitrites, something is wrong. Unfortunately, I don't know what it may be. By now, you should have nitrites that arein the 4 or 5 ppm range and also a slight nitrate reading too. It may be wise to follow abstract's advice and take a sample to your lfs to test. It's possible your test kits could be bad.